The Journey from Hell
by CMCRD
Summary: He pushed her up against the hard wall of the room, his eyes flashing dangerously. “What do you mean by that?” She did not seem alarmed at all. “And here I thought you were brilliant. Exactly as I said. You have a daughter.”
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Alright, I've more or less given up on Life Long Secrets, because I wasn't even half way done with it and it was already about fifty chapters, and then my floppy disk broke and I lost all of it. So I'm not too happy about that. Maybe I'll get back to it eventually, but probably not._

_This is a HBP version of LLS (kind of) stemming from the idea that Hermione was pregnant when Severus broke it off with her, right before a battle at Hogwarts. So in a way, it's slightly AU, pretending that Hermione and Severus had a relationship in her 6th year that no one knew about. _

_I have no clue how long this thing'll end up, but hopefully it won't be fifty chapters. I don' t know though, I have a tendency to not shut up._

_It's rated for possibilities, since, as you can see, this chapter just has some swearing and mention of a few naughty things. I have no real outline for this story yet, so reviews would be a mad helper right now._

_Disclaimer: Not mine. What more can I say?_

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Chapter 1: Azkaban

He was tired. There was no other word for the hopeless and apathy all rolled into one but exhaustion. Except maybe madness, but he was in not state to self diagnose himself, and it would be a frigid day in hell before they brought down a physiatrist to aid his mental state along.

He was, after all, a murder. And murders did not deserve pretty potions to make the feelings go away. If anything, they'd pump him full of amplifiers that would only serve to make the emptiness multiply. _Although, _he mused, _the pain, at least, has not returned. _

It had been months, maybe even years since the guilt and sorrow had eaten away at his mask if indifference. That had been unbearable, the words always niggling at the back of his mind. _You killed Albus Dumbledore. _

It should not have hurt him as much as it did. After all, he had killed him so long ago. With hatred in his heart, he had turned his wand on the old, pleading man, and struck him dead, watching his twinkling eyes go lifeless, as the tired soul had fled from the body. It had filled him with emotions he had hoped to never feel again.

Not least of which was the thirst for blood. Oh, when he had seen Potter that night, he craved to tear his Gryffindor heart out of his pathetic chest and take a bite out of it, chewing it for good measure and then spitting the remains on Potter's now-dead body. The boy had been so distraught that he could have, too. He could have snapped the boy's neck and stood behind him as the body went cold, and his mother's eyes closed in death.

Death was always in the eyes.

He had not seen his face in a mirror for a long time now, but he had no doubt that his own eyes reflected death in the worst way. Empty, cold and hollow. The death had seeped into them long ago, behind the masks he had worn. Each mask held a different emotion, loyalty, regret, anger, sadness. But now, the masks were gone. All that he had left was himself and the knowledge that he had killed Albus Bloody Dumbledore.

In the beginning, he had wanted more. He lost himself on the grounds of Hogwarts, regaining his composure in time to see that he had broken Potter's skin, something he had been ordered most firmly not to do.

Always with the orders.

Even now, in Azkaban, his life was not his own. Every warden had a different routine in order to receive food. _Dance, Sing, Strip, Masturbate for me. _There were times where he wished that they had left the inhuman dementors to watch Azkaban. Instead, they had put the aurors at the helm, and soon the Ministry's visits became less and less, allowing the aurors, bored and irate, to do as they please.

So he had become a plaything. Not that the feeling was a completely unknown one. The Dark Lord had toyed with his betrayed heart, Dumbledore had used his grief and shame, and more often then not, both had toyed with his connection to the Potter kid.

He heard a clicking behind him, but continued to face the cell wall, hoping they'd just leave the food, or not even bother to give it to him. He could starve for all that anyone in this prison cared, and that would be more then fine with him. He had stopped caring the last time he had seen the papers and noticed that the war was still in it's deepest throes, and the prediction left for another ten to fifteen years before it would end. He was still fighting.

"Snape!" the angry snap came from behind him, and he sighed and turned around, reaching down to the belt of his shabby robes. The voice was familiar, the auror who liked a strip show.

But when he finished his slow rotation, his hand dropped from the now half-tied knot. The guard was not alone. With him stood a tall, skinny woman with long, dark hair. Were the lighting any better in the room, he could have made out the color, but from here it appeared to be a dark brown.

"Snape, get ready! Your defense trial's in half an hour."

Snape's eyes widened, expressing for the first time in years an emotion other then apathy. Surprise.

Defense Trial? When did that happen? "Who's my council?"

For the first time, the woman spoke, in a voice completely unfamiliar to him. "That would be me. Get dressed." She tossed a pair of black robes at him and strode out.

The light burned his eyes, having been without bright light for years. He had forgotten how warm the sun could be, how loud the birds could chirp. His brain was spinning, mind on sensory overload. How had he forgotten the smell of the sea, with it ten feet away from his cell? The thick walls had obviously been charmed to keep anything out that could distract a prisoner from anything but the thoughts in his own mind. But how could he have forgotten the distinct sound of the waves rolling across the beach?

Ahead of him, he heard a tongue clicking and the woman stopped suddenly, causing him to collide with him, his legs severely out of shape from only having his cell to move around in. She turned around, a pinched look on her face. "Please refrain from spacing out. We have a lot to do and very little time to do it in. Have you heard a word I've said so far?"

He blushed, having realized that no, he hadn't heard a single syllable. How long had she been talking to him about… anything? At this point, any conversation not about traitors would be a welcome change.

"I asked if there was anything you remembered about the day Dumbledore was murdered that could convince the Wizengamot that you're innocent? Your reputation speaks for itself, Master Snape." She stared him down with a pair of dark eyes that he had seen somewhere before, like in a dream. After a few seconds of silence, she rolled her dark eyes and faced forward again, striding quickly with her long legs, forcing his now exhausted legs to speed up in order to match her pace.

"I don't wish you to make it easy on me, I knew when I took this on that it would be nearly impossible. But you're going to have to take the stand. And if you stare at the Wizengamot as if you're mute, they're going to throw out the case an I'm going to be the laughing stock of the wizarding world."

"And I?" He was huffing by now, sorely out of shape, but she didn't look affected in the slightest by his breathlessness. It was like being with the guards all over again.

"Well, I think it goes without saying that if we lose this case, you'll be fed to one of the few remaining dementors for dinner." She didn't hesitate or sound devastated by this. It almost sounded like she couldn't care less about his life, she was only in this for the reputation.

His feet chose now to stop moving, and he nearly tripped again from the sudden stop. "Wait, you're telling me that if we lose, I'll get—"

She waved her hand impatiently. "Yes, yes, the Dementor's Kiss. So we might want to brush your teeth before the trial, so you'll taste minty fresh." Her tone took on a dry undertone, and she had a smirk on her face befitting of a Slytherin in his best moment.

"Don't sound so devastated on my behalf, Miss…" he trailed off, realizing that she had not, as of yet, learnt her name.

"Just call me Miss, for now. If we are to keep a working relationship, you will be Master Snape and I will be Miss. If we win, I'll tell you my name. If we lose, it will no longer matter, will it?" She made another dismissive gesture with her hand and continued the trek down to the edge of the island.

"We'll be taking a portkey to the Ministry of Magic, where we'll check in. Then I'll get you a semi-decent meal and you'll wash up. You look like death warmed over." She glanced down at her watch, a muggle one. "We have an hour and a half, and it'll take us at least an hour to talk about everything we need to discuss. So that'll give you a half hour to wash up. Sufficient?" Without waiting for an answer from him, she grabbed his hand and they spun away.

_A/N: Sorry it's so short, generally my chapters are at least 5 pages. Please review, I'd love you forever and ever._


	2. Chapter 2

_I felt really bad for the short chapter, so I decided to add another one. Here you go, chapter 2! Please keep in mind that I don't have a beta, and that I'm posting these as they come out, so I've only gone over them a couple times to find grammar mistakes. Spelling's probably horrible too._

_Disclaimer: Nope._

Chapter 2: Ministry of Magic

Severus was thrown to the ground as the Portkey deposited them in the front hall of the Ministry of Magic. 'Miss' stood firmly on the ground, brushing non-existent dirt from her sleeves as if she had just come from the floo. Raising an eyebrow at his crumpled form, she rolled her eyes again and reached a hand down to help him up. "Do try to stay on your feet. We wouldn't want anyone to see that Severus Snape is human and vulnerable, would we? That would ruin your image." When he didn't take her hand, she grabbed his upper arm and pulled him up, a reminder to him of just how skinny he had become in his years in Azkaban.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, _Miss_. It might just be better for both of us if I go curl up in a corner and die, would it not?" He gave her a rusty glare that had once had children and adults alike scurrying for cover. But she stood firm.

"Don't tempt me." She shook her head and grabbed his arm again, dragging him down the long toward an empty room with the hazy appearance of one with heavy wards surrounding it. She removed her wand from within the deep hiding place of her large robe sleeves. The long, slender stick reminded Severus of the girl currently pulling him. Strong and powerful.

She waved her wand gracefully and spoke a long, smooth word that to Severus sounded like _Samananthaonoa. _He quickly tried to decipher the spell, figuring it to be an ancient protection spell or something of the like.

Upon catching the confusion on his face, she chuckled, replacing her wand in the depths of her robe. "Password. Don't bother. It's gibberish. Safer that way, as long as you have the presence of mind to remember each and every syllable." And she pushed him into the room, pulling the door tightly behind her as she stepped into the brightly lit, small room.

With a quick look around, Severus saw that it was a scantily furnished room with two metal chairs with a small amount of padding at the back and seat of them. The table was flimsy and plastic with a shabby tablecloth thrown haphazardly over top of its surface. There was a single bookshelf in the back, filled with what appeared to be notebooks, journals and research material.

"My office," she said, gesturing around with a note of pride in her voice. Personally, he would not have been _proud _of a poor room like this, but he supposed after spending years in Azkaban, to insult her office would be poor form.

She sat carefully down in a chair, gesturing to the other chair with a wave of her hand. He hadn't sat down on a chair for a very, very long time, and it took him a minute to remember how. Awkwardly shifting back and forth in his seat, he looked up to find her eyes on him again.

"Would you just start the damned meeting and get this over with?" he snapped, impatient and embarrassed. That was twice, now, this girl had made him feel impatient in the span of forty-five minutes. All he knew at this point was, win or lose; he needed to get away from her.

"Fine. The prosecutor will be given ten minutes with you on the stand. I have requested to go afterward, to attempt to fix any damage that the no doubt completely competent prosecutor will do to anything you try to say. Whether or not I'll manage has yet to be seen. On that note, we should probably get what we're going to say straight—"

"What makes you think I'm innocent?" His voice had finally returned to its silky, dangerous tone, causing her to look up in surprise. Obviously she had not been expecting him to begin his recovery so quickly. She placed her lower lip in her mouth, thinking about it momentarily before pulling her lip out of her mouth with a popping noise.

Slowly, she began, "Well. Your behavior preceding that night is conflicting. It is known that you were playing either Dumbledore or Voldemort—"

He leaned forward, closer to her. "Any you imagine me to be the good guy in this scheme, playing the Dark Lord like an enchanted harp, do you not?"

Her eyes flashed, and she too, leaned forward to look him in the eye. "As I was saying, you were playing Dumbledore or Voldemort, but the fact that you did not harm Harry Potter afterward has always cast doubt upon your loyalty to Voldemort for any objective observer that views your case. Furthermore—"

"And how many, exactly, has that been?"

She stood up suddenly, anger flitting through her facial features. "Stop interrupting me, please! You will have your chance to speak!" She took a deep breath and sat back down, pulling her chair in and closing her eyes momentarily. He took the opportunity to look her over, trying to get a feel for his defense council. Something struck him that he hadn't noticed until now.

"You're ten!" He exclaimed, earning himself a death glare from her.

"Sixteen thank you very much."

"The Ministry expects me to allow myself to be represented by a teenager?"

She crossed her arms in what he now saw as a child-like manner and sat back in her chair. "The Ministry expects _nothing _out of you except for you to receive the kiss in," she checked her watch, "One hour's time! I was the only one willing to take this case, Master Snape, because all others thought that it was impossible! I did myself until I received the owl meant for my mother. I am the only living person who gives half a rats arse about you in this world, and I suggest that you begin to show some form of gratitude for this!" She gave this entire monologue from her slouching position, but her voice contained passion and anger, and by the end, her face had become quite red. "Now, if you'd allow me to continue where I was at, many of the members of the Order of the Phoenix—"

"You've talked to members of the Order?"

She threw up her hands. "Yes! I've interviewed many people!" she waved her hand, and a large briefcase appeared on the table, causing it to sway dangerously. "I've talked to the Order members, former peers of yours on _both _sides of this war, which I still have scars from doing, Professors who remember teaching with you, students who you've taught, also on both sides of this war, and parents of students of yours. I have collected papers and information on everything having to do with this case since _before _it happened. I've researched every single method that I could approach this case from, and Merlindamnit, I intend to win if you'd just LET ME TALK."

He put his hands up in a surrendering motion and nodded as if to tell her to speak. She took another deep breath and expelled it quickly and loudly, shaking her head in the process.

"Now, as I was saying, the members of the Order expressed a lot of confusion at your betrayal, as at least a handful of them recall you doing everything possible to aide the Light and protect your students, as much contempt for them as you did show on a daily basis. One of them even said that they had previously thought that the day would come where Voldemort, or, well, they said 'You-know-who', would wear a pink dance outfit and attempt to serenade Dumbledore before you'd betray the Order. This came from a source of personal trust and as far as I know, there has been no serenading." She paused, sifting through her papers and glancing up at Severus, sighing. "You have a question, ask it."

He inwardly jumped at the sudden shift in spotlight, but outwardly keep what little composure he had, and drawled out in a bored voice, "and who, pray tell, did you speak to from my teaching years at Hogwarts?"

She glanced down at the paper and then back up at his face. Hesitating for a second, she placed the top sheet of paper on the table, turned it so it faced him and pushed it across the surface until it rested in front of him. As his eyes scanned the paper, he felt hers on him.

"You spoke to Minerva."

"Yes."

"And Lupin."

"Yes."

"And Potter."

"Yes."

"And Granger."

"Yes."

"Not the youngest male Weasley?"

"He's dead. As is Hermione, now. But at the time that I started the interviews, she wasn't. He was."

He glanced up violently. He hadn't been expecting this. "Potter's all that's left of the Golden Trio?" He had always wanted to break the Trio up, but not in this way. He had expected that they'd all make it through at least until the final battle.

"Yes." Her short answers had him confused. She had previously spoken in eloquent, if not overly long, sentences. And now her words were choppy and impatient. "Let me be frank with you Master Snape. The cards are stacked against us. The chances we have of both of us coming out of this unscathed are very, very slim, despite my optimism. If you are innocent, it would do us both well for you to tell me _now _before we go out there."

He pushed the paper back across the table with his index finger, his eyes never leaving hers. "I choose not to answer."

"If you're afraid of Voldemort, I assure you, we can figure something out to get you back into his ranks properly to spy."

"I choose not to answer, Miss. That's all there is to it. Please, do not push the subject anymore." He had put on his 'teacher' voice again, and she bristled.

"Do not speak that way to me, Master Snape. I can walk out of here now, declare that you are a traitor and watch without a problem as they drag you down to the dementor." She placed the paper back into her pile and shuffled through them again, taking another sheet out of the stack and placing it on the tabletop, then reaching into her briefcase to search for a newspaper. "Voldemort still believes you're on his side, and most of the people in the wizarding world are under the same impression. Do you have any idea what it's doing to my job opportunities by just _sitting _here? Not only am I missing class for this, which the Headmistress is already ready to kill me for, but I'm attempting to clear the name of a known Death Eater. I'm not even sure why I bothered anymore. Have fun losing what little soul you have, Master Snape." She began to clear up her belongings. "And I hope you rot in hell."

When she was a foot away from the door, a croaking voice called out to her. "What of my stuff. My house, my books?" She froze and turned back around eyeing him angrily.

"They all burned. Everything. The only thing you have left is the basement beneath the place. You put strong wards on that didn't you, Master Snape. No one, not even Harry Potter, could break them. What do you keep down there?" She slowly returned to her seat, never taking her eyes off of him.

"That is my secret."

She raised her eyebrows in annoyance. "What isn't your secret, Master Snape." She now pulled something out of her briefcase again, looking down at it with hesitation and fear in her voice. "There is… something else, too." She didn't give him the paper this time. "Her mother's gone, and if your name's cleared, you have legal rights to claim custody of her."

"Her?" He stood up so quickly the chair behind him flopped to the ground on its side pathetically. "Whatever anyone's told you is a lie. I have no urge to claim any 'her's."

She stood as well, the paper still in her hands as she watched his reaction. "You have a daughter, Master Snape."

As quickly as he could, so fast she didn't even see him until he was against her, he pushed her up against the hard wall of the room, his eyes flashing dangerously. "What do you mean by that?"

She did not seem alarmed by his sudden flash of anger at all. "And here I thought you were brilliant. Exactly as I said. You have a daughter." The paper had fallen out of her hands in the display, and she shoved him back gently and picked up the facedown, crumpled and yellowing sheet. She passed the paper over to him, where a dark-haired little girl stood waving frantically and grinning with a rider-less broom flying around wildly behind her. Every once and a while she'd glance behind her and see the broom, giggling at it, then turn around to face the camera again.

"H-how old?" Seeing the girl had shaken him up.

"She was six when this was taken." She took the picture back, leaning almost all of her upper body over the table to reach the crinkled photo.

"Six years? I've been in there six years?" He glanced around the room frantically, as if to see how the world had changed in six years.

She only shrugged, shoving the photo into her briefcase with a carelessness that seemed out of character for her. "Now, are you prepared to work with me, if only to meet the girl?

After cleaning him up and feeding him, they had five minutes before the case, and he had yet to honestly tell her if he was innocent or not. Somewhere deep down, she knew that he had killed Albus Dumbledore. It was the _why _that had her bothered. Why would a man kill the only one in the world who trusted him? Why would he kill the father figure in his life?

She remembered the one summer that her mother had insisted upon her taking a muggle psychology class. None of the reasons from those cases fit. Obviously it wasn't the Oedipus complex, since he wasn't his true father and Dumbledore had no wife for Severus to view as a mother. None of the others seemed to work either, and it puzzled her to the point that she kept sneaking glances at the dark man beside herself, trying to catch him with his walls down. It never happened.

As she led him into the large conference room that would serve as their courtroom today, she was shaken to note that everything was set up differently then the scenarios that she had read about and heard about from her research. The Wizengamot was standing along the outsides of the room, in a large circle. At the front of the room stood the tall, balding man in extravagant room that she recognized as the Chief Wizard. Bowing her head in respect, she led Snape over to the chair that he would sit in for the entire trial. She was almost relieved to see the bonds sneak out from the chair and tie him to the chair. At least something about this trial would be by the books.

Once Snape was secured in the seat, she approached the Chief Wizard, her head low. "Aradia Mya Granger Weasley defense council, brings Master Severus Tobias Snape for his trial." The Chief Wizard nodded, which prompted her to continue. "Master Snape was accused of murder and Death Eater activities, and I believe I have found sufficient evidence for a trial on his behalf. I filed an appeal—"

The Wizard nodded. "We know, child. You have been quite the hot topic among the Wizengamot. Now, if you would stand beside your client?" She bowed her head once more, and then stepped to the center of the room where Snape was still bound.

"You trust me, right?" She looked at him where he glared down at the straps binding his hands as if that would make them release.

"If I did not, it is a hell of a time to decide that, now isn't it?" He continued to glare down at the bounds, causing her to sigh.

The doors to the east swung open, and the prosecutor stepped in to the conference room. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched for Snape's reaction. She had been expecting this. He had not.

"Auror Harry Potter for Prosecution, your Honor."


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Not mine. Unless you want to give them to me Miss Rowling?_

_ Not too fond of the end of this chapter, if anyone could give me a poke as to how they think it should go?  
_

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Chapter 3: The Chambers of the Wizengamot

Severus jumped a little at the name of the Prosecution. Here was Harry Bloody Potter back to make his life a living hell again. Only, this time, he literally held his life in his hands. The Boy Wonder had changed viciously since the last time he had seen him. Had the war really taken that much of a toll on him, that after only six years, his hair could be graying at the temples? He was only 22, for Merlin's sake! His features had matured, past the point that his father's ever had. The resemblance to James was still there, but no longer as prominent. He had lost the boyish look in his eyes, now replaced by a devastated sadness to them, no doubt due to the loss of his two best friends, one of them recent. How recent had it been? He hadn't even thought to ask the girl how long Granger had been dead.

Dead. The word shot through his heart that he had thought long ago to be frozen. Could he have saved Granger, and even Weasley, had he not been in Azkaban feeling sorry for himself? Could the war have been over by now had he not let grief overtake him and fall into the hands of the aurors? Did he matter that much to the outcome of this damned and endless battle?

As he looked over the members of the Wizengamot, he saw the drastic changes in the members. Had that many fallen to either the light or the dark? How was it that in a span of six years he no longer recognized a single member of the Wizengamot for what they were? He recognized a few from the back of his mind, but as current and former students. They had risen this far this fast? It made a strange feeling of pride swell in him to know that some of the students he had taught, whom he had thought would never amount to anything, could manage to become prized and respected wizards on the council of elders.

The entire Wizengamot had aged, now that he looked at them. He knew that stress could do a lot to a person, but was it possible that it could make them all age twenty years in six? Did that honestly work? All he knew was that none of the faces looked friendly, not a single one was rooting for him.

"Welcome, Auror Potter. As the senior council, you have the right to decide if you'd like to go first, or if you'd like to let the defense open?" The Chief Wizard, as was custom in serious, Dementor's Kiss cases such as this, was the only one who would speak. Each time he did, the lights in the room changed, becoming dimmer everywhere but on him, as to demand attention completely on the Chief.

"I believe it was our decision that I would start, was it not, Miss Weasley?" Potter turned his head toward the girl at his left as Severus's jaw dropped. _Weasley? _That girl was a _Weasley? _Where was the red hair? The freckles? The Goddamn thick headedness? Could he have misjudged her this much?

When he turned his eyes onto her, he saw that she had been shooting him apologetic glances that he refused to acknowledge. She was a _WEASLEY. _He was trusting his life to a Weasley.

Potter seemed to realize that he had done something that she had been attempting to avoid, but before he could say anything, the girl regained her composure and nodded. "That was our agreement, Auror Potter. If you would."

Potter tore his attention away from Severus and focused on the members of the Wizengamot. "Good Witches and Wizards, it is a known fact that this man, Potions Master and Former Professor Severus Snape was involved in Death Eater Activities. And this is not what we're here to discuss. He had been cleared of nearly all charges filed under that heading due to Albus Dumbledore's testimony. It is the fact that heruthlessly murdered the aforementioned Headmaster in front of not one but two students, myself and Draco Malfoy, now a proved Death Eater, that is on trial today." He strode over to the right side of Severus's chair and nodded toward Weasley.

The abrupt and brief opening statement had the entire Wizengamot shocked, and although he may have imagined it, he thought he saw the Weasley girl shoot Potter a warning glance. Was his defense council not only an incompetent Weasley, but rooting for the prosecution as well? Maybe she had been lying earlier when she claimed to even give half a rat's arse about his well being.

"Very well. Miss Weasley, if you will?"

The girl stepped forward, making eye contact with some of the lesser members of the Wizengamot. "As Auror Potter stated, Master Snape has been cleared on nearly every single charge of Death Eater Activity, excluding the one revolving around Albus Dumbledore's death. Therefore, any mention of the charges should not be admissible in this court. As such, I'd like to request that any mention of the cleared charges be excluded and that if Auror Potter continues to bring that up, that he be removed." She shot a look Potter's way, as if daring him to respond.

"But Your Honor, his history is what most of the case is based on!" Potter stepped forward on cue in protestation.

"Then the prosecution had better have another angle to go from. Request for the defense granted. Any cleared charge, according to the Wizengamot law, is inadmissible."

Potter looked as if he wanted to protest, but stopped himself, nodding toward the Chief Wizard. "Yes, Your Honor. Does Miss Weasley wish to continue with her opening, or skip to the testaments?"

Weasley seemed to think about it for a moment chewing her lip in what Severus was beginning to recognize as her plotting motion. "Let us continue on to the testaments. I believe we agreed, Auror Potter, that you would also start the testaments? Please, begin."

Potter walked over to Severus. "Thank you, Miss Weasley. Master Snape." He looked down at Severus with hatred in his eyes. "First of all, I have to ask, did Miss Weasley share with you what the date is?"

Snape was puzzled at the line of questioning. What was Potter playing at?

"Well, Master Snape, let me be the first to welcome you into the new millennium. Although, it is thirteen years late, I suppose."

Severus began coughing and sputtering. Thirteen years?! That would make it 2013. As in, seventeen years after he had first been imprisoned. No wonder Potter looked so much older! No wonder he didn't see anyone on the Wizengamot that he recognized. The usual term of a member beside the Chief was 10 years.

That would also mean that Miss Weasley had lied to him about the child. She couldn't be his, she had only been six. No way he could have fathered a child in prison.

What else had the chit lied to him about?

"Are you quite alright, Master Snape? Didn't Miss Weasley tell you about the year? Did she at least tell you that if you lost the case, you'd be up for the Kiss?"

This time, Severus had the presence of mind to at least nod.

"Well then, we both know how much would be at stake if you would admitted to anything. So, I think that a dose of truth potion would be in order—"

"Objection!" The Weasley girl darted out from beside him, throwing up her hands. "The defendant should be given the ability to speak about the event the way he pleases, and he at least should be given the chance to tell the truth on his own! What about the twenty-fifth law of the Wizengamot? The right not to incriminate yourself?"

Potter nodded toward the girl. "Withdrawn." And she shot him another look. Ignoring it, he continued on. "As I was saying, Master Snape…" he trailed off, eyeing the large hour glass which had begun to tick down ten minutes since he had started his questioning Severus. He had four minutes left. "Could you please tell the court where your loyalties lie?"

"Objection again! His loyalties are _not _what are on trial here! Please, Auror Potter, stay within the realm of Albus Dumbledore's death!" The Chief Wizard watched the exchange between the two with suspicion in his eyes, but simply waved his hand to get them to continue.

"Continuing on, Master Snape…" Potter again, looked over toward the hourglass. "Please tell me about your relationship with Albus Dumbledore."

For the first time, Severus had to open his mouth to speak. "Albus was my employer, obviously. He was a colleague of mine, and we had good conversations from time to time."

"When did you decide that he needed to be killed?"

"Objection!"

"Sustained. Auror Potter, watch your step, lest we become forced to remove you from this case!"

The Weasley girl, again, gave Potter a warning look, and he nodded toward her. "Well, I have thirty seconds left, I believe. But I think I will forfeit those seconds, as I know I will only get in trouble with them again." He gave one of his charming Potter smiles, and suddenly Severus saw James again in the face, no matter how old it was. It was James all over again, this sick, sadistic bastard who was trying to kill him.

He prepared himself for the Weasley girl's questioning, and she walked up to face the Chief Wizard. "Your Honor, if I may, I'd like to wave the chance to question my client." Again, the girl had lied to him. Closing his eyes, he wondered if it hurt when they sucked your soul out. Did it feel like someone was tearing a part of you out, slowly, forcefully? Or was it a quiet half-death? "Instead, I'd like to take my ten minutes to speak to the Wizengamot, and to show a piece of evidence that I think is critical to the case of Master Snape." The Chief nodded his approval, and she pulled herself up to her full height.

"I am first going to address the matter of Master's Snape's 'betrayal' to Voldemort." Even after 16 years, there were still flinches. "For all of my life, I've heard stories of his betraying the Headmaster. I've heard tales about his death, and I've heard dramatized versions where Master Snape transformed into the very devil to kill the Headmaster. But from countless points of view, he was a sarcastic, bitter man who rarely spoke to anyone other then the Headmaster. The only person he respected worth a grain of salt in that school was Albus Dumbledore." From the look on her face, it was obvious to Severus that she, too, respected Albus Dumbledore, despite the fact that her age told him that she could not have met the late Headmaster. Who had told her the stories late at night? If she so obviously believed in his innocence, someone would have had to have spoken at least decently about him. But the only person who had ever even trusted him with a wand in their presence was Dumbledore. And he had been dead by then. What was the girl playing at?

"So, the big question here is why. Master Snape, by account of those he had attended Death Eater meeting with, was never a pretentious Death Eater. He had never outdone himself to look good in the eyes of Voldemort. So why, seventeen years ago, would he have stabbed the one man who cared about him in the back? Unless it had some bigger meaning behind it." She pulled a vial out of her pocket. "Your Honor, if I may?" The Chief Wizard didn't respond, watching her every move as if afraid that she was going to break some rule. Taking this as a sign to continue, she did just that.

"What I have here are memories from three people. Narcissa Malfoy, Harry Potter, and Albus Dumbledore." At this, the normally silent members of the Wizengamot started wildly speaking to each other, muttering and staring at the girl standing before them, holding the silvery liquid.

"Silence, silence!" The Chief Wizard stepped out of his spot in the circle, and the lights in the room all completely darkened other then that on him. "Silence!" The lights returned to normal, and he turned to face Weasley. "And I am sure that these memories have been tested for authenticity?"

Weasley nodded. "Yes, Your Honor, by both myself and Auror Potter, as I didn't think that the word of a sixteen year old girl would sate anyone's suspicions. We have both come up with the conclusion that the memories are that of whom I have named." As she spoke, she headed toward a large machine at the edge of the room that Severus suspected she conjured while speaking. Pouring the contents of the vial into a basin at the top of the machine, the memories were suddenly projected onto the screen in front of them.

The first two memories were that of Harry Potter and Narcissa Malfoy, the killing of Dumbledore and the Unbreakable Vow, respectively. The third one took place in the Forbidden Forest almost eighteen years ago.

_Albus Dumbledore stood in front of a tree, with Severus Snape beside him, looking around wildly. "Why have you brought me here, Albus. What is it that you could not tell me in the school?" _

_Albus simply raised his hand to his lips and waved his wand around the area, closing it off and making it invisible to anyone or anything walking through the woods at the time. "I could not speak of it in the school, my boy. And you cannot tell anyone of what I tell you out here, do you understand me? If a word of this is spoken to anyone, not only is your life in danger, but that of any one of the students."_

_Severus looked at Dumbledore in concern, suddenly understanding how important the matter at hand was. _

"_Listen to me, Severus. I am dying."_

"_Albus—"_

"_No!" Albus waved his hand impatiently and violently, effectively shutting Severus up. "You have to let me finish! I'm dying. The ring, when I destroyed it, destroyed me. I took in too much dark magic. My body is not dying, just my spirit. Voldemort made it such. If I let it, the magic will take me over until Voldemort effectively takes over _me. _And I can't let that happen. No one would notice the difference until far to late, and I will not let myself hurt students like that. So you have to kill me."_

_Severus recoiled. "Excuse me?"_

"_You heard me, Severus. When the time is right, I will tell you. Just promise me that you will keep yourself safe after I die. Don't let the darkness back in."_

"_Albus!"_

"_Severus, hold on to her. Yes, I know. Just don't let her go, do you hear me? Promise you'll do as I ask, protect yourself, Harry and her, and kill me?"_

The memory slowly faded into darkness as the lights in the conference room slowly came up again. Severus had turned his head away from the projection, his eyes closed tightly. Potter, as well as many of the members of the Wizengamot, had tears streaming down their faces, and Weasley looked somber.

"For these reasons, I request that Severus Tobias Snape be released from Azkaban and his record cleared. He was only doing as Dumbledore asked, and who can fault him for that?"

It took two hours for the Wizengamot to reach a decision, all the while Severus was bound to the chair, and the Weasley girl stood behind him, fear and worry etched into her face. She bit her lower lip, this time not in concentration, but in fear. Severus was tempted to say some comforting word to her, trying to make it better, but knew that any words of his would only make things worse. Had he even had any confidence in his skills, every time he opened his mouth to say something, all of the things she had told him popped through his head, and he shut it again. She deserved to worry.

At one point, she had started bouncing her whole body as if fighting the need to pace. She turned to him, about to say something, when the doors of the room opened loudly, and the Chief Wizard stepped in to the room, alone.

"We, the Wizenmagot of Wizarding England, Scotland and France, do find Severus Tobias Snape cleared of the murder of Albus Dumbledore. However, we are not convinced that his record should be cleared, and for these reasons alone, we are putting him on probation. If we are to hear of any dark behavior from him, he will be found guilty of treason. Defense council will explain to him exactly what would happen should he be found guilty, yes?" Without waiting for an answer, the Chief rose his hand and looked around the room, then brought it straight down in a grand gesture. When it reached the bottom, all of the doors flew open, and the press began streaming in. "Case Dismissed."

The straps on the chair were released, and the Weasley girl grabbed his arm before he was even able to stand up. "We're leaving!" she said breathlessly, and pulled him through the crowd. She looked back and made a gesture toward someone that Severus couldn't quite see.

"No comment!" she screeched loudly to the press in the way, and pushed her way though. Apparently, without his knowledge, his had become a large case in the news, and everyone wanted to know something about the outcome. That's when it hit him. The Dark Lord would hear about the outcome, and the reason for the outcome. He would be dead within a matter hours.

Weasley dragged him toward the room they had been in earlier, shoving him roughly in and slamming the door behind her. Breathing heavily and shaking her head, she sighed. "Monsters, every last one of them."

"Miss_ Weasley, _I thank you for your help, but I assure you, I am quite fine from here." He reached out for the door knob, but she put her hand on his chest.

"No, you're not. Now sit down and wait for—"

"I do not have to wait, Miss Weasley. Now please move." He grabbed the doorknob and flew backward forcefully, his whole body hitting the wall behind him and crumpling to the floor.

"I tried to stop you. The door is set to only respond to me and—"

The door opened again, and she huffed. "Can I never finish my sentences?" She crossed her arms and tapped her foot while she waited for whomever it was to step through the wards and show himself.

When Potter walked in, Severus was taken aback. Hadn't that man just attempted to feed him to the dementors? And now he was standing in their safe room?

"Nice job, kid. I would have freed anyone you fought for like that." He smiled at her and opened his arms for a hug.

She glared at him for a minute, before accepting the hug. "You pompous ass, you nearly got us caught. You were _not supposed to do that badly_. The Chief was suspicious. I think he knew, that's why he's not completely cleared yet."

Potter shook his head. "We're fine."

Weasley shrugged. "Thanks for the help, Uncle Harry. And, are you sure you're okay with this?"

Potter looked at her straight in the eye. "Would it change anything if I weren't okay with this?"

She shook her head, and Potter sighed. Then she turned her attention onto Severus. "I guess I should introduce myself since _someone _went and spilt my secret. My name's Aradia Granger Weasley. Awkward name, and yes, it was hell to learn to spell as a child." She rolled her eyes and continued. "My parents were Hermione and Ron Weasley, and both of them are dead. I, more often then not, would talk to my mother about your case, and that's how I got her statement. A few days after her death, I got an owl from Dumbledore saying that you were innocent. That's where the memory came from. I went to Uncle Harry, who I'm staying with, and we confirmed that it was real."

She paused here, looking to Potter for reassurance.

"And I have a plan to get you back into Voldemort's inner circle, like you were sixteen years ago. The Order needs it's spy back."

His eyebrows rose at her audacity. "First of all, what makes you think I actually was a spy and that you didn't just release a Death Eater onto the wizarding world again? Secondly, what, pray tell, is this plan?"

"My mother believed in you, and that's enough for me." She smiled at him, and for the first time he saw how much the girl looked like her mother the year that all of this had started. The year she was conceived, apparently. "And the plan is that if you bring someone that Voldemort views as a threat to him, that he'll at least trust you again."

"And who do you propose I bring?"

She gave him a full on smile, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Me."


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Sorry for the excessive use of the word 'bugger'. I've actually had a similar conversation with my friend James about the word 'Mothafucka' (don't ask, I don't actually speak like that), so I just changed the word. Please don't report me for it. Oh, and if someone wants to help me with my French, that'd be _amazingly _appreciated, as I'm no good in it and I'm basing what I use occasionally off my limited knowledge. Honestly, I'm not even good at English._

_This story is going very, very slightly AU in that while Ron was making out with Lavender, Hermione had a relationship with a Slytherin. I know that's not the way it happened in the books, but can we pretend like it did for this story at least?_

_I'm looking for a beta right now if anyone's interested. _

_Disclaimer: Gosh, do you have to rub it in? NOT MINE._

Chapter 4: The Ministry of Magic

Seeing that Severus was about to say something, Potter stepped in. "Can you go get me something to eat, Aradia?"

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Uncle Harry, I am sixteen years old and I just helped save a man who might very well save the wizarding world. I think I have a right to stay."

"You do, but I asked you to get me something to eat, that's all. Nothing more, nothing less. Please?"

Aradia bit her lip and pulled the door open, shooting daggers at Potter with her eyes. Once the door was completely closed, Potter turned to face Severus. "Understand, first of all, that I don't like this plan, nor do I support it. I support Aradia, that is all."

"The child's plan will not work anyway." Severus shook his head, ignoring the feeling of confusion at the conversation he was holding the Boy Wonder. "One child will not convince the Dark Lord to take me back in."

"This child might. She is the daughter of two thirds of the Golden Trio, isn't she? Besides." He closed his eyes, as if that would block out the impact of his next words. "I've been told to tell you that you may offer up two women to him— the second worth even more in the eyes of Voldemort."

"And who is this second woman?" Severus crossed his arms over his chest, convinced that there was no way they could find anyone besides Potter worth that to the Dark Lord.

Potter hesitated; looking more then a little saddened and upset. "My daughter." His face turned red, and whether out of anger or embarrassment, Severus didn't know. He was too busy attempting to regain his composure, as the corner of his own mouth had fallen open, and his eyebrows had flown higher then he had previously thought possible to a human, especially one as rusty with facial features as he himself was.

"You would offer up your own daughter to the Dark Lord to get _me _back into the ranks?" Severus watched the younger man, unsure of whether his respect for him should have plummeted or risen. While it was a very Slytherin tactic, save your own arse first, it didn't strike him as a very Potter-ish move. Or even one that he himself would consider.

"I don't have a choice, Merlin be dammed. You've been locked up for the past seventeen years. Things have changed far more then you think. Children aren't children anymore. They aren't given time to be. By the time they enter Hogwarts, they're all too aware of what's going on around them. The Slytherin house is in the single digits; Pureblood parents have all but stopped sending their children anywhere near Hogwarts. Muggleborns have to be turned away for their own safety; we refuse to bring any innocents into this war. The attendance of Hogwarts isn't even half of what it used to be, and every one of the classes is centered on war. What were once advanced DADA lessons are now the lessons of the _First Years, _Snape. How am I supposed to tell my daughter that she's not allowed to help, when I go out and risk my life all of the time for this cause?! If I didn't let her do it with you, she'd sacrifice herself in some other way, and least this way, I could—" His voice broke, and he refused to look Severus in the face now. "get her body. You'd do that for me, her, right? If something were to happen to her, you'd bring her body back to me, no matter what it looks like?"

Severus was trying to swallow this information. He hadn't known what to expect upon being released, but this wasn't it. He had expected chaos outside of Hogwarts, he even braced himself for the possibility that the Dark Lord had won, but he hadn't expected Hogwarts to be in shambles. Never Hogwarts, that was the fortress of all-good. What had happened?

Potter collected himself, gulping down breath and rubbing his nose on his sleeve, blushing. "Sorry, she's just all I have now. It's been a long time since Ginny— and I—" Severus put up a hand, effectively stopping him midsentence.

"Believe it or not, Potter, I know what you mean." He thought about the little girl in the photo, the one that Weasley had told him was his daughter. For the few moments that he had believed her, he felt like there was something to his life, even if it was just to see her once.

Potter's face looked shocked. "So Aradia told you that she's—"

The door flung open at that moment. "I said no comment, now BUGGER OFF YOU—"

"Aradia!"

Aradia flushed and turned around quickly, her eyes opened wide in fear. "H-hi Uncle Harry. Did you get him to agree?"

Potter continued to look at her evenly until she rolled her eyes. "I promise not to say bugger again for at least two weeks. Wizards Honor."

Severus considered pointing out that she just _did _say bugger again, but chose to keep his mouth shut as Potter walked over to Weasley and stared down at her. "Listen to me, Aradia Mya Granger Weasley, and listen to me good. Your mother made me promise—"

Her face became pinched and she squinted her eyes even farther. "Yadayadayadaya, that you'd take care of me and make sure that I didn't become a war refugee and that you didn't let me become a bachelor girl like she was afraid Linnea was becoming. That includes language and eating habits, meaning no TV dinners every night." She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, suddenly becoming the stereotypical teenager. Severus was baffled by the sudden transformation.

"And I intend to keep that promise. Just because I say bugger—"

"Doesn't mean I frigging get to say bugger. I know I know." She gave a small smile up at Potter, and then turned to Severus. "What did you say, anyway? To my idea, I mean."

Severus inwardly blanched at the spotlight suddenly being turned upon him. He had been watching the exchange with a mixture of disgust, confusion and— though he'd never admit it— jealousy, and the fact that she suddenly turned to him for an answer shook him a little.

"No." Short, simply and too the point. Too bad Potter was standing behind Aradia shaking his head and making motions with his fingers, trying to get Severus to back down.

"No? And may I ask why not?" The teenager was gone, replaced once again with the cool defense attorney. She stood up straight, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear and watching him with a detached interest.

"It's far to dangerous for a sixteen year old girl to get involved in. You don't know what it is that you're attempting to take on—"

"And they said the same thing about your defense trial. New excuse." She said this all in one breath, a bored, patronizing look on her face.

"Excuse me, Ms. Weasley, but I believe that I do not need an _excuse _to say no to the idea of turning two teenage girls in to the Dark Lord—"

"Two?" She whirled around on Potter, and Severus almost breathed a sigh of relief at her eyes being off him. "I told you to tell Linnea that fourteen was too young to get involved with this. I thought we agreed that she didn't know the right protective spells and that at least until she mastered silent spells and possibly even wandless magic, she couldn't get involved!"

"We both knew that she wasn't going to agree with this."

"Ms. Weasley." Severus's tone was dark and harsh, attempting to regain control of the situation. "I refuse to bring you two to the Dark Lord. Do you understand me?"

"Fine, just bring me." She placed her hands on her hips, looking Severus right in the eyes, and he got the idea that it would be a long time before she agreed to back off. "Linnea just doesn't want to be left out. She and I don't really get along all that well. Besides, she doesn't even know Occlumency very well."

Severus, again, raised his hand. "And you do?"

She nodded quickly. "I've been doing that since third year, Master Snape. Didn't they always teach it at Hogwarts?"

Severus turned to Potter. "They're teaching _Occlumency _to third years at Hogwarts now?" Maybe things had changed just a little _too _much for his tastes.

She shrugged. "C'est la vie, I suppose. At least in a war. Did Uncle Harry tell you anything about the world out there, Master Snape?"

"I believe, Miss Weasley, that I do not need _Potter _to tell me about the world in war. I was fighting in the war when he was taking his first steps."

"And you were in prison while I was." Her voice was strangely bitter, and Severus arched a brow at her. Was she angry with him for being in prison?

"I assure you, not a decision I made by my own free will."

She shrugged and Potter nudged her with his elbow, muttering something to her that sounded suspiciously like, 'Back off unless you're ready for the story.'

Choosing to fight one battle at a time, Severus turned his attention to the larger issue. "I am not risking the life of two teenage girls in order to get back in with the Dark Lord."

Weasley shook her head. "One. Besides, it's risk our lives or yours. I've always known that I'd lose my life to the war, and if I could do it for the good of the Order and maybe for the chance to end this stupid war, I'm willing to do it."

"Are you quite sure you're sixteen, Miss Weasley?"

"Pretty sure. I was a bit too preoccupied on the day of my birth to check the date." She put her hands on her hip and stood before him, her chin jutted out defiantly.

"I can tell you're Granger's daughter. Oh, you have Weasley's bluntness, but Granger's calculating comebacks too."

Weasley just ignored his comment. "I'll find ways to do this myself, Master Snape, but I was figuring that I would have a better survival chance this way. But if you'd rather I went and found the blond gentleman, what was his name, Uncle Harry, Draco Malfoy? Wasn't it him that just got out of Azkaban for… was it six or seven counts of rape? Anyway, damn technicalities." Potter made a noise at her language, and she put her hand up in his face. "I'm sure he'd be willing to help, but it'd more then likely require the loss of my virginity and—"

"Oh, please, discontinue your attempt at persuasiveness." In reality, she had him shaken down to the core with the fear that she would, in fact, turn to Draco Malfoy. The look on Potter's face told him that he, too, was a bit nervous about the prospect. Would she honestly be willing to subject herself to that in order to get into the Dark Lord's headquarters? "And what, pray tell, does make it so important for you to get into the building?"

She gave him a smug smile. "Well, I figure that from the inside, it'll be easier to scope the place out, maybe find any weaknesses the building itself possess and any vulnerable spots the charms and spells may leave."

"Miss Weasley, you realize that should I allow you to go through with this that you'd be a prisoner, and surely not able so 'scope out' the headquarters of the Dark Lord."

"Would you be allowed to walk around the headquarters as you please?"

"Certain parts of it."

"Leave a small hole in your Occlumency, and we'll be fine." Before she even had a chance to finish her sentence, a chirping noise blared out of somewhere, and he watched in amazement as she pulled her wand. The tip was currently blinking a neon green color that was neither subtle nor attractive, and he felt himself biting his tongue to avoid asking her what was happening.

"That's Neville. That means the portkey's been activated, and that it's safe to leave. We can't portkey from this room, Master Snape, so if you'll follow Uncle Harry out, since you can't touch the door, and I'll bring up the rear to shut it." She gestured toward the door, ushering him out, and for the second time that day, he touched a portkey and was pulled somewhere new.

LINEBREAKSINCEMYOTHERONESDONTSHOWUP

Severus managed to stay upright this time as they landed in front of their destination, however, his head did spin a little. After sixteen years without, portkey travel could be a bit difficult. He refused to let his queasiness show, however, because Potter and Weasley landed right behind him, both look chipper and peachy. In fact, Weasley smiled and laughed a little, running ahead in what he could only assume was anticipation at being back at her home. She drew her wand out as she was running and said another word that Severus could only assume was also gibberish, flinging open the door.

"These ones won't shock you if you touch them, Master Snape." She paused at the door, and then turned around. "Is there something else I could call you, shorter, perhaps? Master Snape's so long and it gets tired, calling someone 'Master'." She shrugged.

"Sir or Master Snape, Miss Weasley."

"Is Miss Weasley one of the options?" She asked before turning and bouncing in the house. Severus turned to Potter and glared at him as if it was his fault the girl was so damn cheerful all of the sudden.

"She figures you're agreeing to the prisoner thing, and she's nervous. That's how she gets when she's nervous or drunk. Only, she gets flirty when she's drunk too. I made the mistake of letting her have some alcohol after her mother's death, because she refused to cry. It was miserable, and she tried to make out with a lamp."

"I attempt to avoid giving teenagers alcohol anyway."

"That's just a life lesson when dealing with Aradia, though. Avoid the alcohol unless you're prepared to fend off her sexual advances. That's all I'm saying." Potter threw his hands up and followed Weasley through the open door.

Severus, figuring that he had to follow, made his way through the doors to find a perky little house with brightly colored walls. He sneered at the colors.

"Dad picked the décor. They clashed with his hair and everything he owned horribly."

Would it have been sixteen years previous, he would have been able to conceal his surprise at the voice appearing behind him. As it wasn't, he wasn't. "Miss Weasley!"

"Startled you? Sorry. But you're going to have to get used to that. You're starting back up as a spy again soon. Tomorrow, in fact." She smiled at him.

"You realize, Miss Weasley, that not only have I not agreed to take you anywhere, but that I do not even know where the headquarters of the Dark Lord is currently, nor do I have a set of robes in my possession. It is crucial to have a pair of robes in order to see the Dark Lord himself."

Weasley blushed, and walked over to a small set of drawers by the door leading to the living room. "I'd hoped that it would wait, but since you brought it up…" She pulled out the infamous robe and mask. "I… uh… rendezvoused with a Death Eater last time Uncle Harry thought I was at home during an attack. Malfoy, actually. He didn't know what hit him until too late. He's a tall man, a bit more muscular then yourself, but they should fit you decently nonetheless." She bit her lip, and then pulled it out and popped what looked like a small berry into her mouth. At his questioning look, she stretched out the hand that wasn't holding the robes, which held many, little red balls.

"Do you have any idea how priceless those are to potions? Cranberries have so many medicinal and magical properties that if I tried to explain it all to you, it'd make your head spin."

She popped another one into her mouth. "And they're tasty."

Potter walked by, and wrinkled his nose at her. "Is she eating those nasty little berries again?"

She glared at him and put the entire handful in her mouth. "Yes." she said thickly through the food, and Severus could suddenly see her father in her.

"Bitterest, most disgusting things on the planet, and she happens to love them. Especially when she's PMSing. Do you know how often I've had to go into muggle London for some berries so she doesn't bite my head off? They're so expensive at the wizarding stores. So the little witch makes me go into muggle London for her stupid berries." It was apparent by his face that he didn't mind it, but in his tone he tried to pull of the bluff. "She could go through an entire bag of those things in twenty minutes if you let her."

She just glared at him and chewed on her berries as she tossed the robe at Severus and stormed out of the room.

"Oops, I'm going to be in trouble for that one later. Hormonal teenagers are the worst to deal with, and I've got—"

The front door flew open. "Dad! Who put the stupid code on guest? We never have guests, so I didn't even remember the pass—" She spotted Severus and turned about eight different colors, opening and closing her mouth a few times before stuttering out, "S-Pro-Mas… Who's this, Dad?"

Severus missed the firm look Potter sent over his shoulder to the dark haired girl as he continued to stare at her. Unlike Weasley, she was dressed like a teenager. Her top hugged her upper body and stopped just before her navel, and her skirt was even shorter. She gapped at him as he stared at her, until Potter stepped in between his daughter and his former potions professor.

"This, Linnea, is Master Severus Snape. I mentioned that he might be staying with us he's—"

"Oh, he's the one that slaughtered Dumbledore and taking Aradia and I to the headquarters as captives. Hi." Without looking at him again, she stormed up the steps. "ARADIA MYA GRANGER WEASLEY, WHERE THE HELL ARE MY CRANBERRIES?"

Potter rolled his eyes. "Snape, let's talk."

Severus looked at Potter, assessing him. "I am not your professor anymore, and I do not have to listen to your insane ramblings as if I were anymore."

"You never did as my professor. Why should it be any different now?" He shook his head. "No, this is about Aradia. Well, her family." He led Severus over to the dining room, which, while small, was comfortable and slightly less cheerful then what he had seen of the house so far.

Setting the robes down, he waved his hand to signal to Potter to continue.

"In sixth year, we suspect that Hermione had a relationship with someone, most likely a Slytherin, because she would have told us otherwise."

"I assure you, Potter, that I am completely unconcerned with any relationships Granger may have had with a Slytherin. Or anyone, for that matter."   
Potter's face looked slightly surprised, irritating Severus. Did he expect that, as a professor, he had been intently focused on the going-ons of the students that he more then often wished gone?

"Anyway, I don't know if Ron ever really forgave her for that. He saw it as betrayal on her part, even though he was busy snogging Lavender at the time. I guess he saw her relationship as more emotional, which I think it was, since she was heartbroken when it ended. She hid it pretty well, but it was hard not to notice that she wasn't sleeping or eating well. Most people took it as a normal 'girl' thing, but Ron and I were really afraid for her. Then, suddenly, she pulled herself out of it, nearly a month later, and she was fine. She and Ron continued their little games, this time more seriously to the point that I think they were having sex, really, and then Dumbledore…"

"Was murdered."

"Sacrificed himself for the good of the Order. And she got upset again. We all agreed that we weren't going back to Hogwarts the next year. Two months later, she told us she was pregnant. She couldn't help us look for the horocruxes, which I think drove her crazy, not to mention it hindered us murderously. She blames herself for every single death that resulted because she had to sit out."

"Blamed."

"Right. Anyway, she and Ron married in her seventh month, and then he took her out of the wizarding world for her safety until Aradia was born. Hermione was convinced that she'd help lead the wizarding world out of the war, claimed that she saw it during labor. So she named her Aradia, which means—"

"Goddess of Witches. Continue with your inane reminiscing, Potter."

"Merlin, Snape, let me do it at my own pace." He took a step back, realizing who he was talking to, and continued. "And she and Ron raised Aradia. It was hard for them, since neither one of them had a full education, and thus couldn't get a proper job. The war just kept brewing and I think Hermione was going insane, being held down by a child she hadn't planned on and a husband that she didn't want— not that she'd tell him that. She loved him; she just wasn't _in _love with him. And I think he knew that too. When Aradia was about… seven, maybe, he started having affairs. Hermione was destroyed, and he hadn't ever forgiven her for her relationship with that Slytherin. Their relationship fell apart, finally ending in divorce in Aradia's third year. Two weeks later, Aradia had mastered Occlumency, Legilimency and she started having visions. Her teachers claimed that it was something to do with the trauma of the divorce, the spurring of these sudden skills, but we knew better. She had had strange dreams for years, dreams that would happen soon later. I think the divorce only brought them out of the dark. Ron died in her fourth year, a death eater attack. And Hermione, she died just a few months ago, right after the two of them got the owl about your innocence. So she took over your case.

"When she gets something in her head, Snape, she doesn't let it go, it'd do you well to learn that now. And she wasn't lying when she said that they teach third years Occlumency and Legilimency, but only on the surface, just enough to get them through a brief encounter with a Death Eater. Snape, when she was fourteen, she broke through my barriers. I've studied for years in Occlumency to block Voldemort out. A fourteen-year-old girl smashed my protection that I built up to bits within ten minutes of trying. She told you herself that she was lacking in charms, and that her potions were decent. Her mind, her logic, her mental magic is so advanced, though, that should she try, she might even manage to break through into your mind."

Severus snorted uncharacteristically.

"Don't laugh, she might." Potter started pacing a little. "Her mother's mind was brilliant, I'm sure you know that. But Aradia surpassed her in intelligence. Wandless magic came easily to her, a trait I think she inherited from her father."

"Weasley could do wandless magic?"

Potter seemed startled to be broken out of his reverie again. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Aradia also told the truth when she said that they now teach wandless magic at Hogwarts, but it's not a mandatory lesson more of a survival one, and so few of the children actually master it. It's a hope, a final resort, if you will." Potter shook his head. "Hermione was right, she's meant to do something, Snape. Otherwise, why would she be given all of these powers? Do as she asks, and don't give her too hard of a time. And if she says she saw something, listen to her. We think that what Hermione saw was actually a vision that she transferred to her mother because her mind wasn't ready to handle it. She's meant to help end this war. I don't like it, but I've had sixteen years to accept it. You have a few hours." Before Severus was able to tell him that he didn't intend to take orders from a sixteen-year-old girl, or even blink, Potter had left the room the only indication that he was ever there the swinging of the door.

LINEBREAKAGAIN

Weasley walked down the stairs, her eyes tired. Upon seeing Severus, she snapped up and he saw a mask slide in front of the exhaustion, and the perk was firmly attached to her demeanor again. Hearing the footsteps, Potter came out of the kitchen, knowing Severus wouldn't attempt to continue the conversation in front of the girl. He may not care for her feelings, but he had his Slytherin tact and subtlety, and knew when not to bring something up.

So he chose another potentially damaging topic to poke at. "Miss Weasley, I have to wonder why it is that you chose to lie to me not moments after my release from prison."

Weasley's face woke up, and this time Severus knew it wasn't a mask, it was anger.

"Uncle Harry, can _Master Snape_ and I have a moment?" Weasley's eyes were angry and her body stiff, and Severus for a moment wondered exactly what it was that he was in for with this child who dared to face him with her back straight and her uncontrolled attitude. Potter glanced at the pair worriedly before complying, leaving the room, and heading toward what Severus could only assume was the kitchen by the smells coming from it.

Weasley gather herself up, pulling herself to her full height and facing Severus. "I did not lie to you about anything, _Sir_. You mentioned the amount of years that you _assumed _you'd been in Azkaban, I merely nodded. I never told you my name, so therefore I could not have lied about that. I never claimed to be someone I wasn't. And that is your daughter, Master Snape, whether you choose to accept that or not. And I _told you _that it was the _last picture taken _of her, never did I say it was recent. I mentioned that you had legal rights over her, because her muggle birth certificate names someone else as the father, but you know as well as I do that the magical certificates cannot be fooled. Go and check the registry if you'd like, she's your daughter." She stared at him, her breath coming a bit quicker then normal, her anger causing her to turn red in the face.

Severus eyed her, attempting to asses her tactics. "What's your house, Miss Weasley?"

She looked taken aback at the sudden change of subject. Looking at him suspiciously, she said, "Ravenclaw, why?"

"And how long did it take you to be sorted?"

Again she stared at him. "A little while." She shifted uncomfortably. "Why?"

"You and Potter both, in the time since being released, have surprised me with your Slytherin tactics. Speaking of the boy wonder, I have to ask why it is that he seemed so pleasant about my release, having been the Prosecution Council." Severus watched Weasley as she perked up, seeming to be excited at the prospect of explaining something to him.

"Oh, that, did we forget to tell you? After they asked Uncle Harry to be the Prosecution Council, I approached him and showed him the evidence. It took a lot of convincing, but eventually I got him to agree to throw the case, because despite all of the bad history you two have, he realizes that the Order needs you. He's grown up a lot in sixteen years, from what I hear from the Headmistress." She shrugged, and Severus gapped at the girl who seemed to be so much older then she should be. Had the war done this to all of the children?

She then looked at him, all business again. "About your daughter"

Severus shook his head, interrupting her. "Ms. Weasley, I regret to inform you that I do not have the patience for this rendezvous at the moment. After seventeen years of being imprisoned, pardon me if I'm not in the most magnanimous mood the world has ever seen. I think that the delicate situation of an alleged daughter requires at least some tea. We will continue this later; do not doubt that.

From the staircase, Linnea shook her head, her glamour slipping slightly.


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Good Lord, it's been a very, very long time since I've written on this story. If there's anyone still reading this, I'm going to try to update as much as I can, okay? No guarantees. _

_Disclaimer: Write J.K. and tell her to e-mail me the rights, okay? Until then, it's not mine._

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_Chapter 5: Weasley House for the Criminally Insane _

Severus watched the girl intently for another few minutes before standing and sweeping away from her, refusing to think about the things he'd just discovered in relation to her. He could tell right now that she was full of mysteries, and if there was anything Severus Snape hated, it was something he couldn't figure out. He wasn't even sure that she knew everything about herself, let alone anyone else. He mentally shook his head as he left the kitchen, turning toward the staircase.

He was startled to see a dark head sitting on the stairwell. The girl didn't notice him at first, and he spent a quarter of a second glancing at her, wondering if her hair seemed coarser than before. Then he coughed. She jumped, clutching the railing for support, and Severus realized that her hair was the same, it was just the low light.

"Eavesdropping, Miss Potter?"

"Good Lord, Severus, don't _do _that!" She exclaimed, gasping for breath. "I could have attacked you!"

Severus surveyed the small girl whose stature obviously took more after her mother than her father. She was petite, no more than five-foot, and delicate looking. "I do not believe I gave you leave to use my given name, Miss Potter."

She flushed and bowed her head. "Sorry, Sir."

He nodded briskly and moved to leave, but she called him back. He wasn't quite sure why he stopped and listened. There was something familiar about this girl, but he couldn't pinpoint what. He wasn't quite sure he wanted to think on it. "Sir, why did you allow Dumbledore to take out the memories?"

He paused, wondering on the sadness in her voice. "Miss Potter, that is a topic between the Headmaster and myself. I see it as a matter of no consequence to you."

She shook her head. "You would."

Severus's head snapped back. He was unaccustomed to dealing with people to begin with, after spending so long in prison, but this sort of frankness from a child was something he wasn't sure how to deal with at all. Normally, it would be done with nastiness and detention, but something told him that he was at liberty to do neither in the home. Somehow, he didn't think that she would respond to snark in quite the way he could hope for.

"How old are you, Miss Potter?"

She seemed taken aback by the question, and paused for a moment to think on it. "Fourteen. Why?"

He held his tongue at the lack of the _'Sir' _in her answer, and focused on the conversation. "Are you aware that I am nearly four times your age? If I say a matter is of no consequence, then it is such."

She stood up and looked him in the eye, and he saw the remnants of a temper similar to her mother's side of the family. "Do not assume because I am young, I am stupid. In my fourteen years of life, I have seen more war than a fifty year old _should_, Master Snape. I have dealt with death of multiple people simply in the past few months. I have invested as much in this war as full-fledged member of the Order, and will continue to do so no matter how hard you resist it. I have been face-to-face with Death Eaters and Voldemort himself more times than I care to count. My position in life, who I'm friends with, who I come from, that all puts me in a danger spot. I am quite aware of matters that should not concern me. I am very familiar with matters that should not concern me. I live for matters that should not concern me. So you can take your false concerns, _Master Snape, _and shove them up your arse!"

She whirled around and stomped up stairs, leaving a puzzled Snape behind.

"What the hell was that?" A voice asked from the doorway to the kitchen.

Severus turned and saw the Weasley girl standing there, eating more cranberries. She leaned against the doorway, looking extremely concerned with the sudden retreat of her cousin. "What the hell did you say? You made her channel Mum again."

"Is there something in the water in this house that causes random mood swings and personality changes?" Severus mused out loud, slightly shaken by the day, possibly one of the most active and chaotic days of his life.

"It's called hormones. All females have them. Get used to it now, Snape," Potter said, walking into the room and grabbing the bag of cranberries from Weasley's hands. "You've had enough. You'll spoil your supper and get sick. Remember last time?"

Weasley rolled her eyes and grabbed another handful of berries from the bag before waving him off. "It's Linnea's turn to cook. I may as well ruin my supper."

He swatted her and started to turn toward the kitchen, but Severus didn't miss the small concerned look Potter cast up the staircase. "Why don't you go talk to her, Dia?"

Weasley popped another berry into her mouth and shook her head. "She'll just snap at me like she always does. She hates me, Uncle Harry."

Potter shook his head. "She doesn't hate you, Dia. She's just worried about you."

"Why the hell should she worry about me? She's fourteen!"

"Watch your language. And it's because she cares about you." Potter ushered them into the kitchen, and Severus reluctantly followed after, his normal personality slightly repressed by the whirlwind he'd experienced lately.

"She doesn't care at all, Harry. I could jump off a bridge and she'd just move into my room. With all those random experiments she does, she's relish the space."

"She would not! She's your cousin."

Weasley made a random noise in the back of her throat, and turned toward the stove, turning the knobs and slamming the pots onto the top. Her random bad mood confused Severus, and he watched as she used her wand to fill the pots with water and summoned potatoes, beef and random vegetables from the garden. She put them in the sink and flicked her wand, and a scrub brush zoomed forward, clearing the dirt from the vegetables. She put her wand on the counter and turned around.

"I thought it was Linnea's turn to make dinner?" Potter asked, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyebrow raised in amusement.

"I want to eat real food tonight."

"Oh, her cooking hasn't been so bad lately." Potter's voice was light, but Severus thought he caught some undertone to it, almost regretful of what he'd just said.

"Maybe she's finally growing up. But at least before she'd talk to me." Severus nearly rolled his eyes at the girl's sentiment, and may have if he were any less composed or in any other company than that of the Potter Home.

Potter finally turned and faced Severus. "What did you say to her anyway, Snape?"

Snape sneered. "Nothing warranting that response. The girl is positively unhinged."

"She seems to have something against you." Aradia slammed the meat into the pan, covered it with the lid and waved her wand. Lifting the lid, she looked at the thick broth and used her wand to throw in everything else. Then she turned to face Severus. "Seriously. What did you _do _to her?"

"I've done nothing to that girl!"

Potter, in the middle of taking a large gulp of tea, spluttered loudly. "Sorry," he said, noticing the looks he received.

"Maybe you should go talk to her." Weasley didn't look at either one of the men, too busy seasoning the stew. Severus turned his gaze to Potter, who simply shrugged and nodded his head upstairs. Severus chose to ignore him.

"Harry, make a salad."

"What happened to _Uncle _Harry, kid?" Potter asked, looking at his niece in amusement.

"Well, technically—" she began, and then blushed, turning back to the stove. "Make the damn salad, dude."

"We have got to keep you away from the television." Potter shook his head and began to gather the stuff with the salad by hand. "And stop using your wand."

Weasley rolled her eyes. "Are you going to turn me in? How about you, Master Snape? You going to rush off and tell the big bad old Aurors on me?" She turned back to the stove and levitated a ladle, wandlessly, over to the pot and began ladling out soup into bowls that flew out of the cupboard as needed. "Happy? No wand."

Severus could tell that Potter more than had his hands full with these two girls who seemed far to independent and _angry _to be teenagers. Potter swatted Weasley with a pot holder and gestured toward the ceiling. "Get Linnea."

Weasley turned her head around and screamed up the stairs, "Linnea, get your fat arse down here now!" Potter gave her a look and she rolled her eyes. "Fine," she grumbled as she left the kitchen.

"She's not as immature as she seems. Somehow, Linnea brings out the worst in her. Always has."

"She seemed a lot different in court today."

"She takes work very seriously." Potter said with a shrug. "Always has. Just like her mother. But she has Ron's ability to have fun and scream. Although Hermione wasn't one for courtesy toward your ear drums either."

"She doesn't look much like a Weasley."

Potter froze in the process of making the salad, and then continued on as if nothing happened. "No, she doesn't. But then again, neither does Linnea. Hermione must have just been too strong for Ron."

Severus hesitated for a minute, wondering if there was any purpose in getting involved, before turning on Potter. "There's something you're not saying, Potter. There is something odd about every one of the members of this makeshift family of yours."

"It's nothing you need to worry about, Snape."

"If I'm going to be forced to spend Merlin knows how long with these children, I'm going to have to understand a bit about them."

"First, you need to understand that they're not just children as you seem content to pass them off as. Aradia is mere months away from being legally considered an adult, and Linnea... well, her case is complicated."

"_How _is her case complicated, Potter?"

"It just is, Snape. Let it go, okay? I'm assuming, though, that you're taking them with you?"

Severus busied himself with the buttoning and unbuttoning of the robes that he'd been given. "I don't see how I have a choice, Potter. You heard the girl, she'll go to Draco Malfoy otherwise. I was there when they brought him in. He's brutal."

"I've dealt with him. Snape, what do you remember of your last year at Hogwarts? My sixth year."

Severus turned to him, irritated. "What do you mean, what do I remember? I bloody well remember all of it."

Potter nodded. "Of course."

The sound of a fight starting upstairs broke Severus's train of thought, as well as his musings of the strange behavior of the Potter/Weasley clan. "Uncle Harry! Linnea's messing with the damned pensive again!"

Harry put a hand to his head and rushed up the stairs, not even bothering to look back at Snape.

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_A/N: Not quite sure when the next chapter will be up. Hectic home life no time for writing. But I do actually read and consider all the reviews, and if nothing else they'll guilt trip me into updating eventually._


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: Shut up, I'm bitter about it._

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Chapter 6: Weasley House for the Criminally Insane

Severus watched Potter rush up the stairs, and paused to wonder what all the chaos was about over a bloody pensieve. What harm could a fourteen year old girl get into with a pensieve? Sure, she could get into things she had no business getting into, but she was a teenager and could just as easily do that from outside of a pensieve. So why would Weasley scream about it and Potter run? It made no sense to Severus, but then, very little of what he'd experienced in the past few hours had. If he were a slightly more masochistic man, he would allow himself to wish they'd kept him in prison or given him the kiss over this.

As it was, the sudden solidarity gave him time to puzzle over things, confusing as they were. As far as he could see, the state of the wizarding world had fallen into madness. He could only assume that with the death of Albus, the Order had slipped into disarray and confusion, and thrust a boy too young to lead to head the organization. Without the organized and careful planning of the Order, Potter had doubtlessly rushed into situations his pathetic skill couldn't handle, and barely slipped away. Because of that, the children of Hogwarts were suffering. Instead of learning what magic can do, they were learning how to protect themselves. This was indeed war.

Severus forced his mind onto a less angering, but no less confusing topic, the small family that he'd stumbled upon. Or, more like they had stumbled upon him. Potter had changed. Severus was mature enough to admit that. It seemed that that he'd grown up over time and loss and realized that sometimes he had to think before he acted. That didn't mean that he didn't still appear to be a dunderhead, he just seemed to be better at hiding it now.

The Weasley girl puzzled him. She had many of her father's mannerisms, but not of his physical attributes. At the same time, she didn't look much like her mother, either. The hair was close enough, and her eyes. But her features were sharper, and she was taller than her mother ever had been. Although, he supposed, that could have been the Weasley genes pulling through. Besides, heredity was a sketchy topic. Sometimes you couldn't see either parent in a child, it was just far too well blended. And it shouldn't matter to him whether or not the girl had Weasley's blasted hair. In fact, he should be thankful for it. There was enough of those ginger-headed monsters running around Hogwarts as is.

Although, if these two Weasley children were any indication, the hair was slowly dying out. But there was no telling how many bloody cousins these two had, probably with the same temperament and stubbornness and inability to realize when it was time to _shut their mouths._ Linnea's comments still ran through his head, like a nightmare that he'd had before somewhere. He could almost see the girl, standing in his office, screaming about how she wasn't a child and how he had no right to treat her as such. But she was a tiny bit taller, more filled out. And her hair was wild and—

He shook his head to wake him out of the echo of a dream as Aradia came down the stairs, muttering about, 'Dumping the bloody vials down the bloody sink,' and 'having no right to look at them anyway. They weren't hers.' Severus simply stared at the girl for a moment as she magically set the table, and then took his leave, allowing the girl a few moments to fume.

Using what little stealth he retained after nearly two decades in prison, Severus crept up the stairs and listened intently to the noises continuing in the room that he could only assume belonged to the youngest Potter. Glass clinking was closely followed by the slamming of a door and a muttering of a locking spell.

"Bloody hell, what were you thinking!"

"I told you before that I couldn't deal with it! I have a hard enough time dealing with this game! How in Merlin's bleeding name do you expect me to handle it now!" Severus's brow furrowed as the young girl's voice raised up higher. This was no normal conversation between father and daughter.

"And staring into that pensieve's going to make it easier? She's going to start to wonder why you're so interested! And what are you going to tell her? 'It's better than the bloody television?'"

"Well it's true! And excuse me if I have issues letting her look at those memories! It's safer if I keep them!"

"Safer for whom? Sure as hell not for the bloody secret!" Miss Potter made a noise in the back of her throat as her father spoke, and Severus heard the noise of someone banging their fist off a wall.

"You'd rather I let her watch her own conception?"

Severus's face contorted as he continued toward the room, wishing desperately he had his wand back. "You know that's not what she's looking for! She just wants to be close to him."

"And I don't? You don't think this is the hardest thing I've ever done? I loved him! Bloody hell, I loved the bloody bastard. And he threw that back at me, and now I have to watch her pine for him! I won't let him hurt her."

The sound of footsteps accompanied Potter's voice, and Severus feared he was heading for the door. Slipping away and down the steps quickly the final thing he heard was. "She doesn't expect anything from him."

Behind the door, father held daughter as she cried into his shirt and whispered the words that Severus may have heard had he stayed. "Harry, I won't let him hurt my daughter."

LINEBREAKEVENTHOUGHINOWKNOWHOWTOMAKETHEMCUZTHESEARECOOLER

Dinner had been fairly quiet when Severus compared it to everything else that he had experienced so far in the Potter house. Potter appeared to be completely worn from the fight and trying to keep Weasley from glaring holes through her cousin. Severus had never seen the boy so tuckered, even after a battle or total mishap. He supposed fatherhood could be more complicated than fighting the Dark Lord with these two.

Miss Potter sat to her father's right and pushed her food around, staring at the potatoes in the stew as if they had personally caused the problems in her life. She barely ate a bite, and Severus could see that her eyes were puffy and red, as if she'd spend a long time crying after trying to hold it back for even longer.

Weasley was simply angry. The apple of her cheeks were flushed a pink color that could not have come from the Weasley side of her. Severus watched as she stabbed her fork into a potato and shoved the whole chunk into her mouth, chewing vigorously. It was slightly disgusting to watch.

The Potter girl finally pushed her untouched bowl away from her and stood up, heading for the door. "I'm going to be in my room. Don't expect me to come down tonight. Snape, we'll talk tomorrow about the plan." She paused, with her hands on the door. "Goodnight, Aradia."

Weasley slammed her fork down beside her plate and looked up at her cousin. "Damn it, Linnea, those are mine, okay? Leave them the hell alone! They're mine!"

"They're not y ours, Aradia!"

"Well they're sure as hell not yours!"

"Why do you want them so bad?" Potter dropped her hands from the door and moved away from it, staring at the older girl. "They're not yours and you're not even in them!" She walked over toward the table. "You don't have a right to look at them!."

"Neither do you!"

"Why do you care?"

Weasley stood up and shoved her empty bowl into the middle of the table. "They're all I have left of her."

She stormed out of the kitchen, her dark hair wildly bouncing behind her as she heavily stepped through the doorway and out of sight, making sure to push the swinging door back toward the occupants of the kitchen as hard as she could. The Potter girl followed after her, less angry and more sorrowful. She stopped the swinging door and walked through slowly, and Severus could have sworn he saw a tear roll down her cheek as she did so.

Potter sighed and stood up, picking up the bowls and vanishing the remaining stew, leaving Severus's nearly finished bowl alone. Finally, he raised his eyes to Severus's. "Sorry about that." His voice was heavy and sad. "They're both upset about a lot, and Aradia has put so much into your trial. She hasn't been much sleep. Technically, they should _both _be at school, really. But the Headmistress gave them leave for a while. Because of the recent deaths and all." Potter gave Severus a meaning look.

Then he brought the bowls to the sink and began washing them by hand. "Aradia told Minerva her plan. And Minerva knows that Linnea would never just let Aradia do her own thing like that. Anything dangerous Aradia gets into, Linnea tries to get into herself. It makes my life interesting." He gave a sarcastic laugh and put the remaining stew from the pan into a dish and put the dish in the refrigerator.

Severus, finally noticing the sheer amount of muggle appliances in the room, looked at Potter, who laughed. "This was Hermione and Ron's house. Hermione lived here after the divorce. She wanted Aradia to know both muggle and wizarding ways." He shrugged and started putting away the clean dishes. "She has it wired for electricity. I never did find out how she did it, but she managed somehow. That was just how Hermione was, I guess." He gave Severus a wry smile and turned around.

The two men just sat in silence for a while, Potter finishing the chores and Severus just again attempting to take it all in. "Well, Snape, it appears you're our responsibility for a while. At least until Aradia drags you down to the headquarters. You can stay in the guest room or on the couch. Your choice."

Severus didn't answer, and Potter gave a small laugh. "Being difficult, huh? Well, as you can see, I'm used to it. This house lives up to it's name."

"Name?"

Potter nodded. "When it came time for them to register on the floo network, they had the hardest time thinking of a name. Hermione was hormonal and pregnant at the time, so finally she grabbed the floo powder and screamed, 'Weasley House for the Criminally Insane!'" Potter shook his head. "They could have changed it later, but it suited them so well. So they kept it. Even when they separated."

Severus thought it over for a minute, and then decided that _Criminally Insane_ was possibly the only accurate description for the occupants of this house. Hormonal, jumpy, emotional, yes, but those didn't quite cover it. They were all covering a lot up. Severus could almost taste the tension caused by things left unsaid. He wondered if they were all covering things up from each other, too.

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_A/N: It's short. I know. But this was the only logical place to end it, seeing as the next scene is, not so much long, but I just liked ending it here the best. _

_In a few chapters, things are going to start getting darker, warranting the M rating that has so far only protected me for the language. _

_Reviews would be loved. In fact, I'm holding chapter 7 hostage until I get 5 reviews. :D _


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: Don't I wish._

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Chapter 7: Weasley House for the Criminally Insane

Severus sat on the edge of the bed in the guest room of the _Weasley House for the Criminally Insane._ Unused to any form of comfort, he had thought that he'd be asleep within seconds of laying down. Instead, he found himself completely unable to sleep. Had he been a lesser man, he would have tossed and turned and counted sheep. As it was, he had laid on the bed perfectly still, staring at the ceiling. His head was swimming at the moment, filled with questions gone unanswered.

Twenty-four hours ago, he had been destined for the Kiss. He had almost anticipated it, hoped for it. After all, anything was better than the feelings of hopelessness he'd been experiencing for _seventeen years_. He'd known that there were charms and spells to prevent the high-security prisoners from seeing sunlight, and to kill all time perception in the cells. But how had seventeen years gone by without him realizing it? The pain of everything was still so sharp, and yet he could believe that it had been fifty years since he'd been locked up.

And yet, it felt like yesterday that he'd been forced to kill Dumbledore. The one man in the world who trusted him completely. And that man had betrayed his trust by asking him to kill. And he could still feel the blood on his hands, marring the skin there and staining. Now, in the silence of the guest room of the Weasley House, he could smell the blood, clinging to his skin. How could they not smell it?

He shook his head, realizing that any sleep he got now would be plagued with nightmares. The chances of finding a potions lab to brew a Dreamless Sleep Potion were slim to none, and he didn't look forward to reliving, again, the death of his mentor in his sleep.

Standing up, he walked slowly down the hallway, taking in the darkness of the rooms around him. Next to his room was a closed door with a large sign reading _Do Not Enter._ He could only assume that was Weasley's room. He walked down, turning the corner. When he did, the soft light of a wand hit his eyes.

Disregarding all advice he'd ever heard in muggle entertainment, he went toward the light, only to find the room that he'd listened to Potter and his daughter fight in. The door was open and the small glowing light came from the corner, where he could see the outline of a girl, hunched over her desk. He cleared his throat, and the girl jumped, and flicked her wand so that dozens of vials flew into her closet, and the door slammed shut. Then she looked at Severus with her eyebrows raised.

"S-Snape. Do you need something?"Her voice was calm and collected, and her gaze was gentle, and it unnerved Severus in a way that he couldn't remember being unnerved a very, very long time.

He glanced toward the closet. "Are those the vials that seem to have caused you and Miss Weasley such a large amount of problems?" She nodded, and Severus looked back at her, focusing on the pensieve on her desk.

"Who's memories are they, Miss Potter?" She looked away from him, and he continued. "You seem obsessed with memories and the past. The past from long before you were born, in fact."

She blushed. "If you don't know your past, you don't know where you're going."

Severus froze. He'd heard that somewhere before. The voice was different, but the tone,the words. They echoed through his head, and the answer was just out of his reach. Where had he heard the before?

Potter seemed to sense his hesitation, because she turned back to her desk. "I just mean that it's important to understand human nature if you want to avoid making the same mistakes, and..." she trailed off and looked back at Severus.

"What are you?" Severus asked with unusual bluntness. _Must be from spending so much time in the Lion's Den. _

She seemed surprised by his question, and she thought it over for a moment. "I honestly don't know anymore." She sighed and lifted up the pensieve, and placed it in a drawer in the desk. "I guess I could say I'm a teenager."

"Are you?"

She looked up at him sharply. "Excuse me?"

"Are you a teenager?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's not a difficult question, Miss Potter. Are you a teenager?"

She crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows at Severus. "Of course I'm a teenager, Snape. What else would I be?"

"Why don't you tell me, Miss Potter? You don't act like a teenager. You're moody, yes, but somehow I doubt that it's hormones. I think you're uncomfortable. Also, that's twice now you've reminded me of someone. I've known you for less than a day."

"With no disrespect of course, you did teach both of my parents, and knew both sets of my grandparents. It's not like I'm a complete stranger to you."

"That's the logical answer, isn't it Miss Potter?"

"Sometimes logic is all you have, Snape." She stared at him evenly, her eyes giving away nothing.

Severus returned her gaze, silently saying the spell and reaching into her mind. He wasn't a master of wandless magic, but Legilimency was one of the few spells he could do well.

Out of practice, it took a lot for him to slip through her barriers. More than it should have, in fact, even with seventeen years without practice. "I thought you weren't skilled in Occlumency, Miss Potter."

"Where would you get that idea, Severus?" She asked softly.

"What are you two doing up?" A voice from the doorway startled them both out of their conversation, whipping their heads around to face the doorway, where Potter stood, staring at his former teacher and daughter. He leaned against the doorway, squinting against the soft light. "It's late and you guys are going to have a lot to do tomorrow. Go to bed."

He gestured for Severus to follow behind him, and as a testament to how tired he was between it all, he followed after Potter wordlessly, turning around and giving one last deep look at the girl at the desk. She waved her hand at him dismissively, and gave him a look that clearly warned him to stay in bed all night.

He followed after Potter as he walked past the guest room into the master bedroom at the end of the hallway. He paused in the doorway and said, "Snape, be careful."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't occupy your thoughts with Linnea. She's not herself at the moment, and for you to spend your time trying to figure her out would be a waste. Concentrate on getting into the headquarters tomorrow and getting those two in with you. After that, well, keep them alive for you to puzzle over her."

"Potter, you are aware that the chances of any of us making it out of this alive are pretty slim, right? The likely situation here is that the Dark Lord going to take one look at me, realize what I'm up to and use my dead body to smother both of them after the Death Eaters have a go at me. Are you really willing to let these two girls go into their deaths?"

"Don't back out on us now, Snape. Dumbledore trusted you with his life. He _gave _you his life. I trusted Dumbledore, and I trust his judgment."

"You didn't at Hogwarts."

"I was a teenager, Snape. You can't judge a guy on what he used to be."

"These girls are _teenagers_ as well, Potter. Neither of them are even of age yet. You're giving these two a great deal of independence that I'm not so sure they can handle."

"They have to. There's no guarantee that I'm not going to get killed just walking out of this house. What's going to happen to them then? There are more fifth years living on their own than there were seventh years when I was in school. 'Of age' has begun to mean very little. I'll do anything to change that, and I know that those two girls are the exact same."

Potter didn't seem interested in anything else Severus had to say on the matter, as he turned and went back into his own room, leaving Severus to think on the matter.

LINEBREAKAGAINYEAHI'MCOOL

By morning, Severus was still conflicted, but somehow had realized the lack of choice he was given in the situation. It wasn't something he was proud of, but he had very little position in the war other than as a spy. Being a triple agent had been his entire life for so long before Azkaban, he wasn't quite sure that he could adjust to life without it now that he was free. The only way for him to get back in the good graces of the Dark Lord would be to bring him something that he desperately wanted. And how could he not want the two girls?

Severus fingered the robe that had somehow made it's way into his room during the night. If he was honest with himself, something he preferred not to practice, he had to admire Weasley's spirit. Not many girls her age could take on Draco Malfoy and live to tell the tale. The fact that she managed to get away with his robes and, presumably, the mask he saw by the door, told him that she was capable of holding her own. But that did nothing to comfort him. To bring a teenage girl into the Dark Lord's quarters was a behavior more akin to Lucius Malfoy or possibly even his spawn, but not something that bode well in the stomach of Severus Snape.

When he turned, something managed to catch his eye. On a shelf, next to the mask, sat a vial. Having had his fill of vials in the past few days, he automatically turned to ignore it. But for some reason, as if the object itself was capable of legilimency, he couldn't focus on anything but. He tried closing his eyes, looking at something else, and focusing on his own thoughts. Either his self control had diminished during his time in imprisonment, or the that was no ordinary vial.

Accepting that he would simply not be allowed to ignore the urge, he stood up and walked over to the shelf, grabbing the troublesome object. As he did so, a scrap of parchment fell out from underneath it. This, too, he found unable to resist, and growled as he reached down to pick it up with an unnecessary force.

The parchment was folded in half, and the outside simply said, _Read._

Sighing to himself, sat back on the edge of the bed and scanned the parchment.

_Master Snape,_

_I trust you slept well. However, today is going to be a hard day, and I don't foresee it getting any easier any time soon. I figure it's been a long time since you've eaten a semi-decent meal, barring the quickly made stew last night. This is a mixture of potions (safely, mind you. A mixture of my mum's.). It's akin to a blood replenishing potion, except it provides more nutrients than blood. It will also help replenish your strength. Drink it quickly and put on the robes. Come to the living room as soon as you can. Please refrain from putting on the mask, however. We wouldn't want our wards to mistake you for a Death Eater, now would we?_

_A.G.W._

_P.S. Did you like my charm? I figured you would ignore the potion otherwise. And no. It will not go away until you drink the potion. Bottom's up!_

Cursing the girl, he uncorked the vial and took a quick sniff of the potion. Deciding that it didn't appear to be harmful, he tipped his head back and swallowed it all in one gulp. The taste was particularly disgusting, something that often happened when one mixed potions. In fact, it was when the taste was pleasant that one knew to be cautious around the potion.

Feeling unusually obedient, Severus stood up and stripped off the robes he was wearing, tattered and dirty as they were. He dropped them into the corner, finding no other way to discard of them. The room held no laundry basket, and without a wand, he couldn't vanish them.

Severus suddenly felt as if someone had dumped ice water into his veins. Wand. Bloody wand. There was no way he was going to stand a chance in the Dark Lord's circle without his wand. He, as well as the two fool hearty teenagers, would be nothing but sitting ducks next to an extremely appetizing glaze. How he hadn't realized his lack of wand before, he couldn't say. It wasn't comforting, however. This wasn't the time to be forgetting things as basic as a _wand_, now.

Raising one hand to the bridge of his nose, he pinched it soundly before picking up the damnable robes and shoving them onto his skeletal, pale body. Years without sunlight would do that to anymore, he supposed, but somehow it still made him angry. The entire situation did in fact, although he would refuse to admit it should anyone ask. The sheer lack of control he was suddenly forced to experience... it was going to kill him.

He felt the pull again, and glared at the bloody vial and parchment. Had she charmed it to continue until he came downstairs too? Another pull told him that yes, she had. When given the chance, he decided, that girl needed someone to choke some sense into her. At this point, he would be more than happy to volunteer for it.

He grabbed the mask before opening the door to leave, shutting it again behind him. The pull lessened a little, and he felt like growling again. He refrained upon hearing voices floating in from the living room. It seemed as though the only way to obtain information in this house was to listen in for it.

"You _can't _keep this up. What are you going to do if he asks again about his daughter? It's sure that he's going to want to know! I told you to keep that little tidbit to yourself, not to tell him about her. It's going to make things sticky later."

"Oh, and your late-night pensieve treks aren't? Linnea, you're risking more than I am."

Severus could hear the sounds of someone pacing the living room. "Are you sure he's going to drink the potion? He's stubborn. Chances are he'll decide that he doesn't need healing."

"I _told _you. I put the Attraction Charm on it. There is no chance of him deciding not to drink it. Unless he cares to have a pull toward a vial for the rest of his life. And the pull will spread too. If he ignores it for more than an hour, he will physically be pulled toward the stupid potion, rather than just a small tugging feeling in his leg, or stomach, or _wherever_ the bloody thing originated on him."

"And you used Aunt Hermione's potion?"

"Yes, for Merlin's sake! I followed the directions exactly, down to using a 13.5 cm spoon to stir it with! The spoon even had the right markings on the handle. The potion I gave him was the Replenishing Potion. Lin, why are you so worried about him?"

There was a groan of springs, and he could only assume that whomever had been pacing had sat down. "I'm not worried about _him_, I'm worried about the plan. If he backs out—"

"He _won't _back down. He had _no _choice! He has to go through with the bloody plan, and if not, we'll go to Draco Malfoy."

"Who will completely tear us apart, Aradia! I don't know about you, but I quite enjoy having my virginity right where it is."

"And are you telling me that you're not willing to give your virginity for the wizarding world? Think about it. Even if we do have to go to Draco Malfoy, he's a competent occlumens. I'll break through and he'll unknowingly hide me from Voldemort. It's perfect, either way."

"You'd let yourself be beaten and raped just to get an idea of the headquarters?"

"I would do anything to end this bloody war. And if that means letting Draco Malfoy use my body to get an idea of what they're planning and maybe save some lives, I'll damn well do it!"

"And how are you going to get the message to anyone? You'll be locked up!"

"I have my ways, Linnea. Now go see if he's coming."

A loud sigh came from the living room, and the sound of feet began again. Severus adjusted his robes and walked down the rest of the stairs with a grace he didn't feel, looking down at the young girl that had just appeared in the doorway to the stairwell. "Hello, Miss Potter."

"Good Morning, Snape. I trust you slept well?" She didn't seem to expect an answer, as she gave him an almost unreadable look and turned around, heading toward the living room without looking back at him.

He felt the pull move to his arm, and he growled and walked into the horribly colored living room, sitting on the couch that had changed colors since last night. _Who enchanted their furniture to change colors?_

As the couch shifted to a sherbet orange beneath him, he held back a sigh. Apparently, someone in this house did. "I believe we have some things to discuss." He began, looking at the two girls in the living room with him. "You two seem so prepared to do this, but do you even know what the Dark Lord is capable of?"

"I think we know Voldemort pretty well, Master Snape. We've been dealing with him all our lives." Weasley crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him, as if daring him to tell her any different. The Potter girl just shot her a look, then nodded at Severus.

"I'm under the impression, however, that you have yet to _deal _with him as a prisoner."

The look on Weasley's face plainly told him that he was right and she hated him for it. Potter's face, however, was harder to interpret. She looked vaguely guilty and distant, as if remembering something she knew she couldn't- and didn't want to- share. He stared at her for a moment, questioningly, before Weasley coughed to bring his attention back to the conversation at hand.

"Yes, well, as such, I don't think either of you have any idea what to expect from this experience." He stared at the two of them, watching as Potter's face closed off again.

"My mother was captured once, when I was young. She told me about it," Weasley's voice was quieter and softer than he'd heard it yet, and he raised and eyebrow at her.

"Granger was captured?"

"Weasley. And yes. During a raid, while I was about four or five... she said it was hell."

"And yet you still agree to do this?" Severus was vaguely surprised in multiple ways, but refused to show it. He had to get back into the habit of hiding his emotions if he wanted to even begin to survive this ordeal.

"I have to. I'm going to find a way to bring this bloody bastard down if it's the last thing I do." Severus was shocked to the bone by the intensity in her eyes.

"I understand." He said quietly, and looked away from both of them.

* * *

_A/N: PHEW! There's like, twice as many words in this chapter as in the last one! And it took me about the same amount of time to write. Things are cooking now!_

_Thank ALL OF YOU for the reviews. I got five in like, a day. And since this chapter's so much longer, I'd like a few more reviews for the next one. Especially since they came so bloody fast. I wish my life revolved around fanfiction. I have so many plot bunnies attacking me it's not even funny._

_Let's try for ten reviews this time? Sounds good. Ten reviews before you get your next chapter. ::Grins evilly::_


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